isappointed with my Lexus LBX Takumi reliability and servi

[E1A]

I bought a new Lexus LBX Takumi in May 2024, my first ever Lexus. I was drawn to the brand for its supposed reliability and outstanding dealer service. Unfortunately, I’ve been disappointed on both counts.
The car has now covered 16,000 miles and just been in for its first service. Here’s what’s happened so far:
Key fob battery failure: Within the first year the fob battery died without warning while we were out shopping, leaving us completely locked out. Our daughter had to drive an hour to bring the spare key.
When I mentioned this to Lexus Cardiff (the supplying dealer), they said other owners had reported the same problem — apparently leaving the fob in the centre console or storage tray below the screen causes the battery to drain. There’s no warning of low battery beforehand.
Persistent tyre pressure warnings: The TPMS light has come on repeatedly despite pressures being spot-on. Sometimes it resets itself, sometimes it stays on. Currently, it’s been stuck on for weeks.
12V battery issue: After a 1 hour 15 min journey, a warning flashed up saying the starter battery was low with a “high severity” red warning. It advised driving for 30 minutes to recharge or contacting a dealer.
The car then refused to unlock, so we called the AA, who jump-started it. Despite an immediate 1-hour drive afterwards, the warning remained. Overnight, more random warnings appeared — seat malfunction, low tyre pressure, and so on.
I contacted Lexus Cardiff again to report the “severe battery” issue. They advised calling the AA for recovery to their workshop. The AA refused, saying the car was drivable. I told the dealer I wasn’t confident driving it in that condition and asked if they could collect it.
They refused, saying they had no one available to collect until early December(!) — over a month away. I spoke to the manager (Lee), who repeated that they couldn’t collect it and had no means to recover the vehicle. I even suggested using an independent transporter at their expense, but they refused and warned that if the issue turned out to be “driver error”, I’d be charged for diagnostics and recovery.
At this point it’s clear there’s a serious problem with the LBX’s 12V system, and the legendary Lexus reliability and customer care are nowhere to be seen. My previous cars (VW and BMW) were far better both in reliability and service.
This is also the first car I’ve had on PCP, and frankly, I’ll be handing it back at the first opportunity. A really disappointing experience all round from a brand I expected far more from.

[Silenoz]

As its on finance, it may be worth a conversation with the finance company. After all, technically it's their car and may give some leverage with the dealership.

Genuinely surprised at the attitude of the dealership, although I have seen some concerning reports of unreliability of the LBX. Enough that it ruled it out of my consideration when we were replacing my OHs car earlier this year and also for me as I needed to order one last month.

Sorry to hear of your troubles and hope it gets to a point where you can depend on it.

[tr7v8]

Not sure how it recharges the 12V battery, but either a jump start or put it on a charger over night seems to be the answer. Its a car battery in the end, nowt to do with being a Lexus.
A flat 12V especially after a lot of short journeys will cause all manner of weird faults.

Just checked its a hybrid, on my Mitsubishi the 12V was checked and charged (if needed) every night at 02:00. Not sure if the Lexus does that. But 12V batteries on hybrids are normally small so will eventually fail.

Edited by tr7v8 on Friday 24th October 12:35

[E1A]

Silenoz said:

As its on finance, it may be worth a conversation with the finance company. After all, technically it's their car and may give some leverage with the dealership.

Genuinely surprised at the attitude of the dealership, although I have seen some concerning reports of unreliability of the LBX. Enough that it ruled it out of my consideration when we were replacing my OHs car earlier this year and also for me as I needed to order one last month.

Sorry to hear of your troubles and hope it gets to a point where you can depend on it.

Thanks Silenoz, I hadn't considered that. I have now contacted the Finance company and they have requested a copy of my complaint email sent to Lexus Customer care. I'll see what response I get from Lexus.

[E1A]

tr7v8 said:

Not sure how it recharges the 12V battery, but either a jump start or put it on a charger over night seems to be the answer. Its a car battery in the end, nowt to do with being a Lexus.
A flat 12V especially after a lot of short journeys will cause all manner of weird faults.

Just checked its a hybrid, on my Mitsubishi the 12V was checked and charged (if needed) every night at 02:00. Not sure if the Lexus does that. But 12V batteries on hybrids are normally small so will eventually fail.

Edited by tr7v8 on Friday 24th October 12:35

Thanks, TR7v8. The AA jump-started it yesterday, and I’ve since hooked it up to my CTEK charger after Lexus Cardiff said they couldn’t collect it. Looks like I’ll have to return the car to them myself once it’s got enough charge.
Having to trickle-charge a brand new Lexus definitely wasn’t what I expected when I bought into the brand, I thought their much-praised customer service would have kicked in by now. Sadly, that hasn’t been the case.
Ironically, my Lotus Elise S1 and Land Rover 300Tdi both occasionally need a top-up charge too but despite being nearly 30 years old, they’ve proved far more reliable than this supposedly modern, premium car.

[Mammasaid]

This is more an issue with the hybrid system itself and not with your car in particular.

The key battery is unfortunate, it happens, however you sshould be able to unlock the car, and start it if the battery dies, the instructions will be in the manual (you have read the manual?)

The 12V issue could be because youu're not using the car enought to keep the 12V battery charged, either take it for a drive once a week, or keep it hooked up to the CTEK trickle charger when you're not using it.

(My father's got a LBX and that's what I've advised him to do as well)

https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/about-my-lexus/manu...

[ChocolateFrog]

I change the key fob batteries yearly now. For a few quid and 2 mins work it's nice piece of mind, especially with keyless entry/ignition.

[Tony1963]

Peace of mind, I would hope.


OP,

What sort of journeys does your car typically do?

[E1A]

ChocolateFrog said:

I change the key fob batteries yearly now. For a few quid and 2 mins work it's nice piece of mind, especially with keyless entry/ignition.

I have done and now keep a spare set of key fob batteries in the car.

[E1A]

Tony1963 said:

Peace of mind, I would hope.


OP,

What sort of journeys does your car typically do?

On the day it stopped altogether my wife had just driven for 1hr and 10mins without stopping, so I'd have thought any requirement for the battery to top up its charging would have occurred. From speaking to a technician at the dealership it appears there's a problem with LBXs with regards to their 12v batteries

[E1A]

Mammasaid said:

This is more an issue with the hybrid system itself and not with your car in particular.

The key battery is unfortunate, it happens, however you sshould be able to unlock the car, and start it if the battery dies, the instructions will be in the manual (you have read the manual?)

The 12V issue could be because youu're not using the car enought to keep the 12V battery charged, either take it for a drive once a week, or keep it hooked up to the CTEK trickle charger when you're not using it.

(My father's got a LBX and that's what I've advised him to do as well)

https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/about-my-lexus/manu...

Initially we couldn't open the doors but using the override lever underneath the door handle we managed to get inside but unless you carry a charge pack or can jump from another car, you won't get it started. As for usage, we've covered 16k miles in 16 months and it is used on a long continuous journey (45mins) at least once a week.

[Andy86GT]

Funnily enough, when new my GT86 battery kept going flat if not used every day.
Toyota happily admitted the batteries were undersized and replaced it with a larger size.
Regarding the key fob, yes it would be better if it warned you but again, once you know about it (and how to manually unlock the car) it's something that can be resolved.
TPMS is the main issue though, however a 10 year warranty means it should be fixed.

[Sheepshanks]

Is dodgy TPMS a Lexus thing? BIL had it on his RX450h. Dealer would tell him fixed and he'd drive out of the dealership and it would come on again.

He wasn't thrilled with the dealership generally. Funnily enough they also have Skoda and I have the same poor opinion of the dealer, yet they have a great reputation locally (it's a one-off family owned place).

[Mikehig]

Probably a dumb question but how is the 12V battery charged?
If it's from the hybrid drive battery rather than a mechanical system, maybe it's a software issue with how the charging is controlled.

[Trevor555]

E1A said:

Silenoz said:

As its on finance, it may be worth a conversation with the finance company. After all, technically it's their car and may give some leverage with the dealership.

Genuinely surprised at the attitude of the dealership, although I have seen some concerning reports of unreliability of the LBX. Enough that it ruled it out of my consideration when we were replacing my OHs car earlier this year and also for me as I needed to order one last month.

Sorry to hear of your troubles and hope it gets to a point where you can depend on it.

Thanks Silenoz, I hadn't considered that. I have now contacted the Finance company and they have requested a copy of my complaint email sent to Lexus Customer care. I'll see what response I get from Lexus.

Top advice.

Make sure your email to the finance company says "quality complaint"

Then a record of it has to go onto the agreement.

Then, if a total failure happens, at least there's a record that you've had ongoing issues.

Out of interest, when you first had the TPMS, and keyfob problems, how long had you owned the car?

[Olivera]

E1A said:

Key fob battery failure: Within the first year the fob battery died without warning while we were out shopping, leaving us completely locked out. Our daughter had to drive an hour to bring the spare key.

Stopped reading here - there's a physical key inside the fob for use if the battery dies, like every other car ever.

[E1A]

Mikehig said:

Probably a dumb question but how is the 12V battery charged?
If it's from the hybrid drive battery rather than a mechanical system, maybe it's a software issue with how the charging is controlled.

Not dumb at all because I'd assumed it was via an alternator but the LBX doesn't have one. So I think it's via the hybrid system somehow. I'm sure others will know more. Interestingly on the Lexus LBX owners group it has been the subject of much comment with one contributor offering the following advice on how to manage the 12v battery.
1. What causes the Battery failure? The 12v Battery is reported by multiple users to have failed when either (a) they are sitting in the parked car, or have opened it to do some task, but they have not put the car in READY mode. The failure can apparently happen in a few minutes. Or (b) The car has not been used for a period (see below for how long that might be). Or (c) The car has been used repeatedly for short trips only. Or (d) It goes dead overnight/abruptly, in some cases due to total failure, needing replacement, even if the vehicle has been reliable up to that point – possibly due to being on too low a charge for too long, even if it starts reliably in that period. But with all these cases we lack data on what % of buyers have had this problem and very few of the reports give a clear idea of how the car had been used prior to the failure. In any case, the first lesson is: if the car is open, always put it in ready mode.

2. How can I know if my Battery is about to fail? It is possible to check the state of the Battery by purchasing a separate monitoring unit – which needs to be attached direct to the Battery, not plugged into a lighter or USB socket - or having the standard Lexus anti-theft tracker installed. (The tracker has an app which shows the charged voltage of the battery). Otherwise, users can follow the practices suggested to keep the Battery charged (see below).

3. What voltage is fully charged/discharged? Fully charged seems to be about 12.8-12.9v. My car was delivered with 12.8v. It is reported that the car may still start on as low as 11.8v, but some contributors believe that the Battery may suffer permanent damage if allowed to go so low. The level at which permanent damage might occur is subject to a wide range of advice, apparently firm info in one place contradicting info in another. I have aimed to keep the charge above 12.0 as a rough guideline.

4. How can I easily increase the charge in the 12v Battery? Some of us grew up with cars that could be charged-up by a brisk 30 minute drive. The LBX does not work like that. There is a report of a trip of 240 miles making no difference to the level of charge in the 12v Battery. From my own experience of somewhat shorter trips, there is no guarantee that the voltage will increase with use. The other simple method of charging the 12v Battery is putting the stationary car in ready mode. Lexus/Toyota recommends a minimum of one hour per week if one of their hybrids is not otherwise being used. I believe the car has to be unlocked with the key inside for ready mode to operate, so if you don’t have secure outdoor parking you will either have to wait with the car while it charges or find a security solution. In my experience, the petrol engine cuts in quite frequently and for long spells while in ready mode and, later in the day, the lights will come on. (There is no ‘off’ switch for the LBX lights). Our car is parked on an ungated drive and attracts attention in that state. It might also cause complaints for noise and pollution. Some other LBX owners, however, have said that the petrol engine hardly cut in at all in ready mode. Maybe something to do with climate, or with the state of charge of the traction Battery? I have charged it twice using ready mode, once for an hour which apparently took the charge from 12.0 to 12.5, and later for four hours which took the charge from 12.2 to 12.5. Puzzling that adding three hours made no difference. My understanding now is that neither driving around nor using ready mode will give you a ‘fully-charged’ 12v Battery – not even a guaranteed increase in charge – because the controlling software is designed to maximise fuel efficiency, not automatically put a full charge in the 12v Battery. This is fine if you use the car regularly and sufficiently but not fine if you want to stop using the car e.g. for a holiday of more than a week. That said, a combination of fairly regular use and stints on ready mode kept the car in the range 12.0-12.5 in which it started without problem, even after a week away. Two final points (a) You can use remote control to put the car into ready mode but only once and only for twenty minutes. Not sure if it is enough to make a difference – could not detect in my tests. (b) Any increases in voltage from driving or being in ready mode seem to be delayed by about 12 hours – I wondered if this was just a delay in readings from the tracker but they are supposed to be ‘live’; I wonder if there is some technical reason – a charging process that continues after the car is switched off?

5. How can I maintain the charge if I am away for more than a week? The inability to ensure the car is fully charged before departure is one major issue, only overcome if you have access to a mains-powered charger. The simple solution for maintaining the charge, for those with secure parking and access to power, is a trickle charger plugged into the mains. That solution is not convenient for me and not available to many. In the last couple of weeks I have used a solar panel plugged into the OBD port. The car was charged up to 12.5v using ready mode and left unused for ten days. As before, the charge dropped to 12.2v after a couple of days but then stayed steady at 12.2 throughout. I had reason to use the car so the test ended, the car starting without problem. Expectations for a solar panel in January are low, so I found this result encouraging. No way of knowing what contribution the panel made, though. Downsides with the solar panel are that it is quite bulky to store in the car when driving and the OBD port is not very convenient to access. We will have a six week absence in March/April and that will be a more substantive test of the solar panel. I have already bought the jump starter pack in readiness!

6. How do I reduce the drain on the Battery? There are suggestions for switching off functions to reduce Battery drain, and these can be found in other posts on the forum. I want to see how the car can be managed using the functions designed in, if only because I may forget to switch off and on the functions when needed.

[loskie]

is the LBX the one that's a poshed up Yaris Cross?

[E1A]

Olivera said:

E1A said:

Key fob battery failure: Within the first year the fob battery died without warning while we were out shopping, leaving us completely locked out. Our daughter had to drive an hour to bring the spare key.

Stopped reading here - there's a physical key inside the fob for use if the battery dies, like every other car ever.

Yes there is a physical key but when the 12v battery is dead that won't help when attempting start it. Also, that's not how you open the doors when the key fob is dead. It's the physical lever underneath the door handle that overrides entry. Hope this wasn't too much to read

[E1A]

loskie said:

is the LBX the one that's a poshed up Yaris Cross?

Yes it is.